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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



school. He was a good Christian man, and I used to 

 love to hear him talk bees, especially in swarming 

 time. He would tell how the colony was ruled by a 

 king, and in swarming time they would raise another 

 king, and then the two kings would fight, and the 

 one that got whipped would have to leave with a 

 part of the bees; and the reason they clustered on 

 a tree was so the king could have a rest after such a 

 hard battle; and if they happened to return without 

 lighting he said the king was unable to fly after 

 such a hard battle, and must rest until the next day, 

 when he would lead his party out again. 



Query:— I wonder if Novice's theories will seem so 

 ridiculous to the next generation, 50 years hence. 



Well, my father died and I bought out the entire lot 

 of bees, just 35 years ago, and went enthusiastically 

 into the bee business. I made a lot of square box 

 hives that would hold about one bushel (no patents), 

 and waited patiently for swarming time. Well, on 

 the 2Sth of June, a large swarm came off. I hived 

 them, and they went to work all right. On the first 

 of July, there issued another large swarm, which, 

 after circling around awhile, returned; not, however, 

 to the old hive, but alighted on another hive that 

 already had more bees than could get inside, and 

 remained on it all day. The next day being Sabbath, 

 I remained at home, for that hive showed much un- 

 easiness. About 11 o'clock they commenced pour- 

 ing out, both colonies coming out together,— two 

 large swarms, and they went straight to a large oak 

 in the timber, X A mile away. Well, it seemed too 

 much to lose two swarms at once, so daylight, the 

 next morning, found my brother and me cutting 

 down the great oak. We felled the tree, and got 

 them out without any trouble, and carried them 

 home in triumph. They came out again the same 

 day; I hived them again. They remained quiet 

 until next day about 10 o'clock, when they com- 

 menced pouring out. I got water and sprinkled 

 them thoroughly, but it was no use; they circled 

 around a while, then alighted in or on the hive and 

 swarm which I got on the 28th, being about two 

 inches thick all over the hive. On looking around 

 on the ground, I found the queen so wet she could 

 not fly. I pinched her head ; that settled her, and 1 

 supposed the others were all right. But not so; in 

 about one hour, the cry was raised, "They are com- 

 ing out again," and, sure enough, the bees in the 

 hive they had alighted on and all the rest came off, 

 leaving combs about six inches long. Such a cloud 

 of bees in the air I never saw before or since. There 

 were three large swarms together, and they did not 

 attempt to alight, but struck a bee line to the north- 

 west. I struck after them, determined to keep 

 them company to their new home. I ran through 

 timber, over fences, and through grain fields, for 

 just two miles, until we crossed the Styx valley, 

 when they rose up over the timber on the west side 

 of the valley, and, for aught I know, they are going 

 yet. 



As they went in the direction of Medina, perhaps 

 it is the colony which Novice captured, and which 

 gave him such a boost in the bee business. But, be 

 that as it may, I set my face homeward, a warmer if 

 not a iciser man. 



Now, had these fugitives a location picked out 

 before leaving, or do they have an eye out for a 

 future home, when gathering honey? Will Novice 

 please stand up and explain? J. Elliott. 



Ea3ton, Wayne Co., O., Aug. 2, 1879. 



I believe the general decision is, friend E., 



that they sometimes have a location picked 

 out, and sometimes they do not. Where a 

 colony suddenly swarms because it bears the 

 swarming note from some other in the apia- 

 ry, and gets the swarming fever suddenly. I 

 do not think they have any place selected. 

 The mammoth swarm you mention probably 

 went off in much the same Avay. On our 

 way home from Sabbath school, on the 20th 

 of July, we saw a swarm of bees right over 

 the buggy, going directly in a line with the 

 road. As long as they kept the road, I 

 thought I could certainly keep up with them, 

 and as they buzzed about the limbs of a tree 

 by the road side, I began thinking what I 

 should use to carry them home in. Well, 

 they did not quite stop at the tree, and when 

 they started on, they went so much faster, 

 that I found it difficiilt to keep up, and final- 

 ly, I found it out of the question ; my horse 

 could not keep their speed. Well, instead of 

 taking the proverbial bee line, they soon 

 turned on a sort of curve, and went off across 

 the river, in quite a different direction from 

 their original course ; and, instead of going 

 in the direction of any forests, they were 

 taking a line for a neighboring apiary. 

 Now, instead of having any definite plan in 

 view, they were pushing ahead at random, 

 and would very likely cluster somewhere, 

 before going to any tree or place of abode. 

 Do they not often start off in just this way ? 



CALIFORNIA AS A BEE-KEEPING 

 STATE. 



ARTICLE 2. 



M BOUT the middle of June, we had a hot time 

 J($\ of it. The thermometer went up to 110 in 

 ' the shade, and the bees began to leave their 

 hives and cluster on the trees in the vicinity of the 

 apiary. We saw clusters from the size of a 

 hen's egg up to a fair sized swarm. At first I began 

 hiving, but found that they would not hive worth a 

 cent; so I let them have their own way, and, in the 

 cool of the evening, they would go back. Nearly 

 every cluster contained a queen. 1 caged several 

 and introduced them to queenless stocks, and the 

 remainder I suppose found their way back to their 

 respective hives. The heated term lasted 5 days, 

 and every day they repeated the same process. 

 Quite a quantity of comb melted down in spite of 

 all the ventilation I could give. Only one full stock 

 was entirely destroyed by melting, still I can see 

 that, if the hives had been full of honey and brood 

 at the time, we must have met with quite a loss in 

 spite of all that could have been done, as the bottom 

 boards were nearly all nailed fast to the hive. 



Bees have a fashion of clustering with a virgin 

 queen, perhaps on her wedding flight. They seem 

 to gather from all parts of the apiary (mostly young 

 bees and drones), until they form a decent sized 

 swarm. At first, T used to hurry up and hive them; 

 but I soon found that they did not amount to a row 

 of pins, as they would all scatter away within 21 

 hours. In fact, bees cut up a great many didos in 

 Cal., that we never saw in the east. E. Gallup. 



Scenega, Cal., July 24, 18T9. 



I have seen something of this same swarm- 

 ing out on account of excessive heat, in my 

 green house experiments. During such a 

 time, the loose bottom boards of the Simplic- 

 ity hives prove a great convenience. 



